What If: Wizard of Oz Rangers Idea
What If?: Wizard of Oz Rangers Idea is a short spoof / fanfic idea that was released on YouTube on Saturday, February 2nd of 2008, making fun of all the thematic elements shared by both Power Rangers and The Wizard of Oz. It re-envisioned Dorothy and the gang as the "Oz Rangers," set to protect the land of Oz from Elphaba and her monsters. Plot Early at the Academy of Oz, Larry Wornton was busy at work developing a way to protect Oz from the Dark Marinal, a creature in the seas near Oz that was hell-bent on causing nothing but destruction. Using the Northern Mystic's approved trinkets of magic, Larry became "The Wizard." He also worked with Glinda, set to become the Northern Magic Queen and rule as a proxy for the Northern Mystic. Dubbed the "Good Witch of the North" by Munchkins, Glinda was more than content with her role. She and the Wizard were on good terms most of the time. However, a battle to subdue the Dark Marinal led to Glinda and the Wizard having to employ their friends Sadie and Elphaba from the Academy. When Glinda's initial spell trinket was damaged, Sadie panicked. She decided to let Larry borrow Elphaba's trinkets, which subdued the Dark Marinal only temporarily. However, during the battle, some of the Marinal's corruption force infected Sadie and Elphaba. It initially manifested as the girls becoming slightly more selfish, as well as Sadie losing control of her legs. Feeling guilty, Larry and Glinda tried to help take care of Sadie and Elphaba. However, an accident occurred shortly after Larry left the Academy when he was working with Elphaba. The accident left her deformed, and turned her skin green. From there, the Dark Marinal's corruption became unstoppable. Elphaba dreamed of visiting vengeance upon the Wizard. To keep Elphaba's rampage of revenge at bay, Glinda and the Wizard used a desperate ploy spell that would effectively trap Elphaba inside a jar for the duration of the following fall semester until 14 semesters had gone by. (Summer semesters not withstanding.) In her imprisonment, Elphaba's thirst for vengeance only grew. Sadie was also corrupted, and angry that Glinda and the Wizard would presume themselves having the right to imprison Elphaba. After seven years had gone by, Sadie had transformed into the Wicked Witch of the East, and began tyrannizing all of Oz. Glinda as her Good "Witch" of the North self sought to help shield and protect Oz, but it wasn't enough. There needed to be a military force to battle Sadie's monsters. Larry assumed control over the Emerald City and its residents, hiding in a labyrinth of city structures and disguising his true self with a projection inside a glass tube. Over the course of those seven years, many Emerald City residents forgot that Larry was once a man, assuming the glass tube projection to be the Wizard himself. The Wizard used this ruse to assist Glinda, coming up with the very ground force she needed: the Oz Rangers. He developed the morphers, but needed test subjects for who would become his Rangers. Things took a turn for the worse when the 14-semester spell wore off. Elphaba arose from her imprisonment, shouting: "Ah!!! After 14 semesters I'm finally out of the Academy! IT'S TIME TO CONQUER OZ!!!! A Wicked Witch of the East was bad enough. A Wicked Witch of the West on top of that? Would the Wizard and Glinda be prepared? Sadie upped the ante by plotting a way to use her share of magic taken from the Northern Mystic to breach the gap between Oz and Earth, so as to conquer both realms. Glinda intercepted, however, and sealed the gap. However...the portal opened right over a tornado in Kansas. A house that had been twirling around in the tornado crossed over before the portal was closed. After a blow from Glinda knocked Sadie to the ground, the unthinkable happened...the house fell right on top of Sadie, crushing and killing her! Elphaba witnessed the events from afar, and immediately vowed revenge for her sister's death. Flying monkeys invaded Munchkinland and began terrorizing the residents just as Elphaba commanded. While the Munchkins feared they'd be helpless, a girl walked out of the house and fired a shotgun, killing three monkeys before running out of ammo. She then proceeded to encourage the Munchkins to fight back martial-arts style. The monkeys were baffled at this sudden show of courage, and retreated. Dorothy revealed herself, and revealed that she had retreated into the house just after her family was scattered when gangsters tried to take the farm and property for themselves. She was not the whiny, helpless child that many assumed her to be; but rather a quick thinker and a determined warrior. Her dog Toto, small and fairly ineffectual, no less tried to act the same way. Glinda advised that Dorothy seek out a few other souls in Oz that were also willing to fight the evil in Oz, while explaining the backstory of things to a confused Dorothy. As Dorothy gathered her new friends, Elphaba launched a monster to kill them off. However, they were close enough to Emerald City at the time that a robotic Munchkin named Munchkin-5 was able to teleport them to the Wizard's base. From there, the Wizard briefed them further on what was happening. He feared that they wouldn't want to do it; but they agreed to anyway. Thus were born the Oz Rangers... Characters Oz Rangers * Scarecrow / Black Oz Ranger: The Scarecrow was cast aside, and accused of being "brainless" until he began to doubt his own intelligence. The Wizard works with him on gaining back his confidence, and competing with the best minds of the day. His morph call is "Straw of the Field!!!" * Toto / Initial Pink Oz Ranger: Dorothy's dog. He was a test run for the Pink Oz Ranger powers, before Marianne arrived. His morph call was "Woof Woof!!!" He needed assistance. * Marianne the Midget / Second Pink Oz Ranger: Marianne soon took over for Toto, and changed the morph call to "Lollipops of the Guild!!!" Alas, she did not feature in the test video. * Tin Man / Blue Oz Ranger: An animated tin man, "Tinny" was left out in the woods to rust by the same mad scientist that created the Scarecrow. When Tinny refused to deliver tea on time, the abusive scientist who created him threw him out, going so far as to call him "heartless," rather hypocritically. Tinny knew this couldn't be true; but was unsure what to do about the situation. He gets to put his good spirit to use as the Blue Oz Ranger. His morph call is "Tin of the Factory!!!" * Lion / Yellow Oz Ranger: Lonny, even as a cub, was held in high expectation. When a legion of tigers sent by the Dark Marinal attacked the pride of lions that Lonny belonged to, Lonny froze in fear. He was unable to defend his siblings from Siberin the Terrible. Rather than understand that he was clearly overpowered, the pride ostracized him and labeled him a "Cowardly Lion." This drove Lonny to exile in disgrace, doubting his own bravery. He feels that being the Yellow Oz Ranger is a way to regain his honor. His morph call is "King of the Jungle!!!" * Dorothy Gale / Red Oz Ranger: Originally from Kansas, but born a few decades ahead of her time, Dorothy is somehow pretty skilled at her own brand of martial arts, and is a little-nonsense warrior. She kills Sadie by accident, but inherits the infamous Ruby Slippers. The slippers unlock a variety of secrets as the times call for them; but she takes great care to keep the slippers away from Elphaba. They become part of her outfit when she morphs. As the Red Oz Ranger, she is both the bravest and the team field leader. Her morph call is "Slippers of the Ruby!!!" * Boq of the Emerald City / Green Oz Ranger: Initially giving the Rangers grief for getting past security, he is recruited in a pinch to try out the new Green Morpher. He proves a valuable new addition to the team, even though he is part time due to having taken a job as a security guard. His morph call is "Emeralds of the City!!!" Other heroes * Northern Mystic: The truest "Big Good" over Oz, he operates through his proxies Glinda and Larry. * Larry / The Wizard: A secondary "Big Good," handling south and central Oz. Since he has the least actual spell power, he relies on his Rangers to do most of his dirty work. * Glinda / Snowy Knight: The Northern Magic Queen, dubbed the "Good Witch" by Munchkins, and a proxy of the Northern Mystic. She governs northern Oz and its surrounding northern territories. When the Rangers are in a pinch, or busy in a northern mission, she morphs into the Snowy Knight to assist them. Her morph call is: "Glimmer of the Snowflake!" Villains * Dark Marinal: An ultimate evil force in Oz, one which could radically alter the balance of lifeforms living on Oz, even to his own detriment. His containment is a must for all Oz beings, even the Wicked Witches. * Elphaba / Wicked Witch of the West: The Rangers' primary antagonist. Corrupted by getting too close to some of the Dark Marinal's essence, she turned into the Wicked Witch. The injustices that Glinda and the Wizard committed against her and her sister, combined with Sadie's death at the hands of Dorothy, have fueled in her a passion for revenge and a desire to conquer all of Oz for herself. She frequently sends monsters to terrorize Oz, looking for a way to finally defeat the Rangers. * Silvernar: A sonar-using flying monkey covered in silver armor. He is tallest of the flying monkeys, and can talk. He likes to talk a lot, and annoys even Elphaba on occasion. He has it in for the Red, Green, and Blue Rangers. He is an obvious parody of Goldar. * Flying Monkey Patrol: Many other flying monkeys are Elphaba's mindless minions. They battle the Rangers while Elphaba gets her monsters ready. Inspiration The idea for this spoof came from both sources, but also from the fact that the Dozerfleet founder was enrolled in Video II class at Ferris in 2008. As part of the class, students were encouraged to play around with scriptwriting software. This led to the discovery of Celtx. Celtx came with several sample script templates, including a Wizard of Oz one. While tampering with the script that came packaged, the Dozerfleet founder randomly got the idea to have the Oz characters become Power Rangers. After reading the initial script and thinking: "This is pretty hilarious!," the Dozerfleet founder went on to make a 45-second video promoting the idea. Distribution In February of 2008, only a day after production began on the video, it was distributed on YouTube. It became the most liked (and second-most-disliked) video in the entire collection of videos on the Dozerfleet Channel, with the least popular being This Video Contains Jar Jar. It was pulled off the Dozerfleet Channel in November of 2012, and sent into Ivan's Vault until further notice. Reception Positive reviews raved that the video was "some thought" and "This would be cool, Glinda should also be a Ranger!" Negative feedback consisted of "You're insane!" and other insults. The video became the second-most-commented-on video on the Dozerfleet Channel, second only to This Video Contains Jar Jar. See also * [[Trailer for Volkonir|Trailer for Volkonir]] External links * Celtx home page, the inspiration behind this spoof. Category: Completed projects Category: Dozerfleet Studios projects Category: Projects from 2008 Category: Power Rangers parodies